Hitler seemed to win the first few rounds by his shrewd timing and deceptive propaganda aimed at the needs and wants of the masses. "Change" he cried - "Change!"

Faithful pastors were dismissed, arrested, imprisoned in harsh concentration camps. Into the empty pulpits stepped "German Christian" ministers -- handpicked puppets of the state, who preached Nazi ideology that replaced Biblical truth with utopian doctrines cloaked in Scriptural promises.

The people who called themselves Christians fit into three categories:

1. those who would rather face death than deny their Lord;
2. those who delighted in the new positive gospel of Nazi Germany; and
3. the complacent masses who couldn't tell the difference between the two.

From the start, one of the main leaders of a secret Christian resistance movement was the esteemed Pastor Martin Niemoller. His God-given wisdom and gentle strength spread hope and courage to the troubled souls that had counted the cost of resistance and could no longer remain silent or turn back.

In the early years of this intensifying spiritual war, God's soldiers seemed to be losing ground. But under God's sovereign hand, their early "defeats" awakened thousands of complacent Christians to the unthinkable Nazi hatred for God and His ways. This deepening awareness led to an underground fellowship that God used to encourage His faithful people to take their stand in Him, hold fast to His Word, draw strength from His Spirit and, if necessary, be ready to die for His name's sake.

Under Pastor Niemoller's leadership, the movement became known as the Confessional Church.

Their beloved pastor was arrested well before World War II began, but his message was multiplied during the dark years of Nazi tyranny through thousands of fellow warriors for Christ.


Today, we do well to remember Pastor Niemoller' sober words ~

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionist, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, there was no one left to speak for me."